Chapter 170: Red Maple Boarding School (Part 7) “Complete the Ritual, Sacrifice the Bad Kid to the Evil God”

Qi Si toiled for a long time, getting himself covered in dirt, and finally… cooked all the ingredients.

He took out greasy plates from the cupboard, scooped ladlefuls of suspicious paste from the pot, poured it on, and then neatly arranged them on the counter.

Looking at the unappetizing dishes, Qi Si felt an inexplicable, faint sense of guilt.

Considering that Ms. Medina hadn’t asked him to deliver the food, he simply left the kitchen in a mess and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Halfway there, he remembered something, turned back to the door, took a towel from his hiking bag to wrap his hand, plucked three mushrooms growing in the corner, and wrapped them up.

Afterward, he calmly carried the package containing the mushrooms and returned to the cement building the same way he came… In the school’s first-floor cafeteria, several rusty iron tables were neatly arranged, their unevenly colored surfaces mottled, with large patches of brown resembling congealed bloodstains.

If not for the dozens of plates on the tables, each with a set of bowls and chopsticks beside it, no one would have thought these were dining tables, but rather machine tools in a factory or operating tables in an illegal laboratory.

Players gathered here, cramming the small space with people.

Just five minutes ago, everyone received a system notification—

“Please return to the first-floor hall for dinner immediately.”

They dared not delay, stopping their exploration and descending the stairs.

Jiang Junjue also had a grim expression as he blended into the crowd and went downstairs.

The moment he encountered the singing skeletons, he thought his glorious reputation would be ruined in this godforsaken place, but he didn’t expect the skeletons to merely watch him from afar, with no further action after finishing their song.

What was that? A performance for him?

Jiang Junjue was utterly puzzled.

He was inclined to believe that this was because it was still the safe period of the first day in the instance; not only would violating school rules not be punished, but encountering some death points would also not result in immediate Settlement.

Of course, not immediately Settlement did not mean no Settlement. Jiang Junjue had studied hundreds of instances and knew that many reckless actions would be remembered one by one by the Eerie Game, and then returned manifold after the safe period.

—Unless a solution was found in advance, or someone committed a greater act of recklessness than him.

In an unnoticed corner, Philed also rushed back to the cement building, covered in dirt, and scanned the players with an unfriendly gaze.

He had wandered aimlessly in the maple forest all afternoon, eventually forgetting what he was even looking for.

It wasn’t until he heard the system notification that he suddenly woke up, frantically retracing his footsteps back.

From beginning to end, he hadn’t seen a trace of the NPC named “47”.

Calming down and scratching his itchy back, Philed finally realized—he had been tricked by that player in the white shirt!

He must have been possessed to so easily believe a stranger’s nonsense and dive headfirst into the depths of that eerie maple forest!

Philed gritted his teeth and shifted his gaze, searching the crowd for the person who had tricked him, but everyone looked more or less the same in his eyes, and now all were wearing school uniforms, so he couldn’t find the figure in the white shirt… Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a slender figure, which was Qi Si, who had put on the Human Skin Mask again.

Philed finally found the whereabouts of the coveted NPC boy again.

‘Fortunately, there’s still a chance…’

He comforted himself, about to approach the “boy,” but the latter ducked behind a Long County player who looked difficult to mess with.

On the other side, Chen Lidong saw Zhou Datong in the crowd, took a few steps forward, and pulled him to squat in a corner: “Xiao Zhou, what’s the situation on the second floor? Tell me everything that happened after you went up.”

In the eyes of other players, the two were old acquaintances who had met by chance. Beyond that, there was no deeper connection, and they hadn’t made any special requests when dividing teams, so they were assigned to different floors.

Zhou Datong went to the second floor, and Chen Lidong went to the third floor.

“The second floor is all classrooms. We entered every one that could be opened. Desks, podiums, blackboards, everything was there, looking quite normal…” Zhou Datong recalled, then suddenly slapped his head, “But two rooms were sealed with cement. They couldn’t be opened with ordinary tools, and we didn’t have any special weapons, so we didn’t go in.”

Chen Lidong nodded solemnly, making a judgment: “Those two sealed rooms are probably the key. Just wait and see your Brother Chen then. We haven’t properly tried the 【White Blade】 that Boss gave us yet.”

Zhou Datong chuckled: “Boss is still so thoughtful, lending us the 【White Blade】 in advance.”

“Of course! Otherwise, how could Boss be Boss?” Chen Lidong knew that the Sera Guild had the ability to monitor members’ every move in the instance, so he didn’t spare any words of praise. “This instance will likely require a lot of weapons. The entire third floor I went to is dormitories, and every room has bloodstains, looking like many people died—there will probably be a chase at night.”

“A chase… a chase? What should we do then?”

“What are you afraid of? Brother Chen has your back!”

The two exchanged a few words of caution, then split up and blended back into the crowd.

Chen Lidong had only walked a few steps when he felt someone following him, their footsteps extremely light, barely discernible without careful attention.

He subtly placed his hand on the White Blade at his waist, then suddenly turned around, only to see Qi Si appear out of nowhere, standing two steps behind him like a ghost.

Chen Lidong knew it was unwise to offend an NPC openly, so he immediately hid the White Blade behind him, putting on a friendly smile: “47, do you need something from me?”

Qi Si lowered his head helplessly: “No… nothing.”

“It’s not good for children to lie, you know.” Chen Lidong adopted the tone of an adult lecturing a junior, coaxing him, “Uncle let you out of the isolation room before and gave you food. Are you going to deceive Uncle like this?”

Qi Si was silent for a while, as if finally making a decision, then gritted his teeth and said: “Mr. Chen, it’s like this: on my way to pick mushrooms in the maple forest, I overheard Ms. Medina talking with a strange person. She was discussing with that person how to make you die without you realizing it, and then bury you in the maple forest to prevent you from reporting the school’s affairs to the Foundation…”

Chen Lidong narrowed his eyes.

He thought to himself, the Philanthropist identity didn’t require him to abide by school rules and allowed him to act unrestrainedly in the school; the advantage was simply too great. How could the Eerie Game be so kind?

So that’s what was waiting for him here—

Although he wasn’t bound by the rules, he would face the greatest hostility from the main NPCs. After the safe period, he might become the target of all ghosts and monsters in the entire instance!

The unease and worry lasted only a breath before dissipating. What Chen Lidong felt more was a strong fighting spirit.

The Eerie Game couldn’t present an unsolvable dead end; crisis often coexists with opportunity.

Since he had ample item reserves, he could completely seek greater benefits amidst the risks, and perhaps even gain the Sera Guild’s attention through this… Thinking of this, Chen Lidong’s gaze towards Qi Si became a few shades more serious: “47, thank you for telling me this news. I will be extra careful. Please be sure to inform me immediately if there are any new developments.”

“I believe you also want to change the current situation and save your classmates from distress. As long as Uncle can leave alive, I will definitely expose the dark secrets of Red Maple Boarding School to the Foundation!”

He spoke sincerely, fully embodying the role of the Philanthropist.

Qi Si looked at Chen Lidong, who had spontaneously concocted a grand drama in his mind, and also put on a moved expression, nodding earnestly.

“Tap, tap, tap…”

A series of footsteps approached from a distance, distinctly audible despite being soft in the noisy environment.

The players, who had been whispering, simultaneously fell silent and turned to look in the direction of the sound.

Ms. Medina, dressed in black, stood at the doorway, her wrinkled eyes drooping sternly, her gray eyes coldly sweeping over every player: “It’s already ten minutes past dinner time. Why haven’t you started eating? This is the first day, so I won’t hold it against you, but after tomorrow, if you’re late and don’t eat, you won’t eat at all ever again!”

Her tone when she said “won’t eat at all” sounded no different from “die immediately.”

The players rushed to the dining tables, each finding an empty seat and picking up their bowls and chopsticks.

Looking at the unidentified pasty suspension in front of them, their hands holding the chopsticks froze in mid-air.

Who would dare to eat this stuff? Aside from the taste, just looking at it made them feel like it could kill a person several times over… Qi Si also sat down at the dining table, observing his first culinary creation, deep in thought.

He chose a seat very close to Zhou Datong. He remembered that this guy’s backpack had a lot of food…

Ms. Medina nodded with satisfaction when she saw everyone obediently seated: “You all came from outside, and you know how precious food is. Therefore, I hope you don’t waste it; every dish must be eaten clean.”

At the same time, all players received a notification:

“Rules have been refreshed.”

“5. Students must dine on the first floor on time and finish all food on their plates.”

Well, that settles it… It seems they have no choice but to eat the stuff on the table.

Several players’ expressions visibly crumbled.

After two seconds of dead silence, everyone, with constipated expressions, reached their chopsticks into the plates holding the unidentified substance.

Since the rules explicitly required them to eat, these foods shouldn’t be lethal.

In the face of life, taste buds, appetite, and everything else could be thrown aside. To put it harshly, even if it were a pile of shit, they would have to eat it to survive.

Qi Si shoveled a mouthful of the potato, tomato, and cabbage mixture, swallowed it without changing his expression.

Hmm, the taste was indeed not great, but in the Eerie Game, there wasn’t much to be picky about.

Qi Si had always been conscious of cleaning up his own messes. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he dug another mouthful of the vegetable paste and put it into his mouth.

The players observed Qi Si’s calm expression, and an inexplicable glimmer of hope arose in them: The NPC ate it, and he’s fine, right?

Maybe these dishes just look bad, but aren’t actually that hard to eat?

They hypnotized themselves, and with a sense of fatalism, brought the vegetable paste to their mouths.

The vegetables had been so mishandled that they had the texture of rotten meat; they almost vomited.

But under Ms. Medina’s hawkish gaze, no one dared to throw up.

The players could only pinch their noses, force down what was in their mouths, and then dig for another mouthful. At this moment, their resentment towards Ms. Medina had escalated, and a thought even rose in their hearts: “After the instance ends, we must use the three-minute waiting time to hack Ms. Medina a few times.”

Finally, all the players finished their dinner and left the table, looking utterly drained.

Ms. Medina squinted at everyone, then pointed to a row of faucets on the west side of the cafeteria: “Wash your bowls and chopsticks and put them back in their original places, then go to the bathroom and wash yourselves clean. After that, you can return to your dorms to rest.”

She turned and left, leaving behind a final, dreamlike whisper: “Go to bed early tonight, get a good rest, and don’t run around…”

The players watched Ms. Medina’s back disappear outside the door, and all breathed a sigh of relief.

It was still early; there was no rush to wash dishes or shower.

Zhou Datong pulled out a spicy sausage from his backpack, took a bite, and swallowed it, finally suppressing the urge to vomit stirred up by dinner.

He glanced at Qi Si, who seemed to be used to bad food, and felt a sudden pang of sympathy. He then pulled out another spicy sausage from his backpack and handed it over.

Qi Si accepted it without hesitation, smiling as he said thank you.

On the other side, under Jiang Junjue’s organization, everyone compiled the clues they had found on various floors.

The first floor had four important locations: the cafeteria, bathrooms, office, and archive room. Ms. Medina was in the office, and the players dared not search it in front of her. The archive room stored textbooks and various materials, a considerable amount of text, which the exploring players hadn’t had time to read yet.

The second floor was mostly classrooms, with two inaccessible rooms; the third floor was dormitories, likely where the players would spend the night.

The rooms on the fourth floor also looked like classrooms, but compared to those on the second floor, they seemed somewhat different, and it was unclear what they were specifically used for.

During their exploration, the players also successively completed the rules:

“1. Students should always respect their teachers, greet them upon seeing them, and must knock before entering the office.”

“2. Students are not allowed to enter dormitories without permission during non-nighttime hours, unless granted by a teacher.”

“3. Students must wear school uniforms in school.”

“5. Students must dine on the first floor on time and finish all food on their plates.”

It was unknown if there were rules six, seven, and eight, but as of now, at least rule number four was missing.

Jiang Junjue opportunely looked at Qi Si, who was hiding behind Zhou Datong, his gaze falling on the cloth bag in his hand.

Without waiting for him to speak, Qi Si opened the cloth bag and poured the various-sized mushrooms onto the dining table, saying somewhat apologetically, “I only found ‘Poisonous Mushrooms’; the others will take a bit longer.”

One item from the nursery rhyme was thus accounted for, further cementing the players’ belief that Qi Si was an important clue character given to them by the instance. Their expressions and attitudes showed a bit more goodwill than before.

Philed felt the change in atmosphere and was extremely depressed, feeling that his plan to snatch the NPC’s school uniform was likely doomed… He scratched his neck, growing anxious: What should he do tomorrow? He didn’t want to violate school rules; he didn’t want to die… No one would care about the fate of an unlucky person who couldn’t wear a school uniform.

Jiang Junjue took out a pair of gloves from a sack, put them on, and picked up a mushroom, examining it before his eyes.

Zhang Yiyu stood by, also staring intently at the mushroom.

The moment her gaze touched the mushroom, lines of text refreshed on the system interface in the upper left corner of her vision:

“Dear Witch, congratulations on finding one of the ritual’s raw materials, ‘poisonous mushroom’.”

“Identity side quest triggered.”

“Side Quest (Mandatory): Gather all raw materials and complete the ritual.”

“Side Quest (Optional): Sacrifice the ‘Bad Kid’ to the Evil God.”